Rapid access character memory



" m4 Shee'ts-Sh'` START oF SECTION Cons NoN -cHARACTER oATA CHARACTER DATA.,l ENS oF SECTION cone a. n n n Il -ll Il Il Il Il Il Il Il ll vIl Il Il Il Il Il Il Il Il Il Il llvll ll c HARAdTRf RARAQTSR uun'npn une" l nous uuu une n o "nu" nu nu nun non "nu "nun nu nnnnluuu n o United States Patent O 3,514,616 y 4 RAPID ACCESS CHARACTER MEMORY Edwin R. KolbrUniversity Heights, Chio, assigner to Harris Intertype Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Delaware Continuation of application Ser. No. 710,348, Mar. 4, 1968. This application Feb. 26, 1969, Ser. No. 805,105

Int. Ci. G01n 21/30 U.S. Cl. Z50-219 ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE An optical character memory containing digital information is uscd in conjunction with a light source and a plurality of photoclectric transducers to produce electrical signals for the generation of alphanumeric characters of typesetting quality on a cathode ray tube for photographic recordation. The digital data representing the singie character is divided into a plurality of sections to provide for rapid access to that data. Each of the sections is supplied with digital codes indicating the start of the section, and the coordinates for positioning the cathode ray tube beam within the character field thereby permitting the character to be generated from any sequence of sections making up a complete character.

This is av continuation of application Ser. No. 710,348, tiled Mar. 4, i968, by the present inventor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION High speed phototypesetting equipment using cathode ray tubes to display characters on the face thereof employ several different types of devices to forrn those characters. In one type of character generating system, an eiecuon beam is proiccted through a selected one of the openings in the character mask to produce a shaped electron beam which is then deflected and directed onto the face of the cathode ray tube at a preselected location. ln another character generating system, a core matrix is used to control the intensity of the electron beam which is scanned in a raster pattern on the cathode ray tube face. In a third device, auch as the character memory shown in copending U.S. application Ser. No. 591,734, tiled Nov. 3, i966, the characters are generated by controlling the intensity of the cathode ray tube beam in response to digital signals recorded on a cyclically moving storage memwb ln the character generating devices of the last mentioned type, the character information may be repeated several times in a single discrete track in order to provide for more rapid access to the stored character information. with such an arrangement, the character memory does not have to rotate through the greater part-of a complete rotation in order for a starting piace for character generation to pass the read out device. Itis still necessary, however, if selection were made after the beginning of the digital information representing the character had lust passed the read out device, to wait for the character memory to rotate until the presentation of the beginning 4of the next representation of that character before character generation couldA begin.

it has been suggested that more rapid access could be provided'by positioning a plurality of read out means circumferentialiy about the character tracks on the character memory. This type of construction, however, requlres an increase in the number of read out heads used with a single character memory and the addition of electronic circuits to select the proper rend out head for the most rapid access to the character data.

' BRIEF SUMMARY or THB This invention relates to an improved`4 character memory whereina character can be generated quickly and with a minimum of delayvbetween the1selcction of the character and the reading out of the character data and the presentation of that character on a'fcathodc ray tube.

A-rotating character memory having-'digital marks recorded .thcreon, either optically or magnetically, is rotated at a relatively high speed and the digital information read out at a single location and converted into electrical signals which control a cathode raytube beam in the formation of a selected character. The data for each character is repeated a number of times in a single discrete track on the memory in order togdecrease the access time required to withdraw the character information. A further decrease in access time( is accomplished by dividing each of the characters intoseveral sections and providing each of the sections with a unique code representing' the coordinates of that section with respect to the remainder of the character, or to the character field, so that a character can be generated from any sequence of sections which make up a complete character. With the apparatus of this invention, accesstime to the character information'is ,reduced to a minimum and higher speeds of operation of the phototypesetting system are therefore possible. t

The decrease in access time may be illustrated by di viding the information representing a character into three sections. Each of the sections may be'generated on the face of the cathode ray tube independently of the other, and since the coordinate defining the relative position of the section with respect to the entire character are provided, the character may be formed from'any sequence of these sections. By dividing the character into three sections, for example, the access time to'the character is rcduced by approximately two thirds. `,";i'

For example, if the beginning of thecharacter had just passed the read out device when the'character selection was made, it would be necessary for the character memory to rotate only a distance equal to one section before character generation can begin and not the entire distance required to generate an entire character, as required in prior art devices. Of course, some noncharacter information is associated with each of the character tracks in order to identify the beginning of each section and the coordinates of that section relative to the remainder of the character. Therefore, the number of sections into which a character may be divided is limited as a practical mntter by the amount of non-character information required to identify each section completely.

It is understood that the non-character information associated with each section may be included in the character track itself or supplied from a separate source synchronined with the character track.

This concept of dividing the character into a plurality of sections and-identifying the starting coordinates of that section relative to the remainder of thecharacter is novel and'may be applied to several typesof character generating systems, such as the raster scanzltype of character generator described incopcnding U.S.-`patent application Ser. No. 591.734, referredto above,-"or to the unit are given to position thatsection with respect ,to the remainder of the character. p

It is understood that the X and Y coordinates referred to above are the coordinates indicating the starting position of .thesection relativeto thespace-occupiedby the character, or the character field, and do not refer to the coordinates on'the cathoderay tube face itself toposition the-whole character within asingle-line.'f'1'he X and Y coordinatesfaretherefore determined by-the character generating signals which move the cathode ray tube beam after it has been positioned inresponse to the.character positioning signals from a control circuit whichis responsive'intum to a control record=and tothe.'accumulation of spacesresultingfrom the generationof othercharacfers.

it is therefore an object of thisinvention to provide a character storage member for use in anV apparatus where rapid access to invariantdigital informstiontis-.required where the character is divided into afplurality oftsections and othertinformation is supplied to indicate the beginning of each section and its relationship to theremainder of the sections forming that character; andro-provide a character generating memory of thc.type used to direct a beam of energy to form characters .where the access time required to recover the digital-information for that entire character is substantially reduced by dividing the information representing the character into sections with the beginning of each section being indicated by a digital code identifying the starting coordinates of that section relative to the remainder of the character.

Brief description of the drawings acter disc shown in F10. 2, showing two clock tracks and t a character track:

FIO. 4 shows the generation of a character byscanning the cathode ray tube beam in a raster'fashion, and furtlLer showing the division of the character into three sect ns;

F10. 5 shows a character created by moving thecathode ray tube'beam from point to point which has been divided into three sections;

FIO. 6 is an exploded view of a portion of the character shown in FIOJS. showing the generation of a character by moving the cathode ray'tube'beam frompolnt to po t: o

P10. 7 illustrates the development of a-character of F10. by scanning the cathode ray tube in'a raster pettern with one section of the character being shown in F10. 7a'as solid black dots, another'section shown being developed in'PiG. 7b as solid black dots withthe previously formed section shown as dashed lines, and FIG. 7e showing the remaining section of the character being developed as solid' black dots while the two previousiy formed sections are shown as dashedlines; and

F10. 8 illustrates the development of the character of FIG. 5 with the first section being developed in'FlG.A 8a and shown` as solid black dots,another 'section being developed ss solid black dots inFlG. Sbwith the; previously formed section shown as dashed lines, and the remaining section of the character being shown in FlG.`8c as solid black lines withthe two'previousiy formed-sections shown as dashed lines.

Detailed description and may include a transparent memory member 11 onto which-is rccoded the information necessary to develop a character on a cathode ray tube. Thecharacter storage member 11 may be similar in its construction and arrangement of tracks containing character information to that 5 character storage member shown and described in copending United States pat. application Ser. Nor-608,161, filed Jan. 9,1967, assigned tothe same assignee as the present invention.`1n that application, an optically transparent characterstorage member described contains six bands, withcachof lthe bands containingthirty-ve vdiscrete tracks having optical information ,permanently recorded thereon.

The information contained within the tracks on the member 11 in the form of optical marks is illuminated by a light sourcet12 andtheimagc of the..trackssis.projected into a fiber opticpickup assembly 13 wherethe image is optically magnified and focused onto individual fiber` optic bundles and then transmitted by means off'optical fibers 14 264e a'setlof photomultiplier tubes 15, on'ej'photomultiplicr tube forfeach of the tracks within the' band. The character member 11 is rotated by a motor lttocause relative movement `between the member 11 -land the pickup means 13. iii

ln the embodiment described herein, two of the photomultiplier tubes 15 are used to sense the timing tracks and generate electrical signals which are thereafter used to provide timing signals for the remainder of the character forming apparatus. The remainder of the.photomultiplicr tubes sense the light received from corresponding tracks on the member 11 and the electrical signals produced thereby are used to control the intensity and in some cases the position of the cathode rny tube beam and thus form the characters. 212'.4

The electrical output of each photomultiplier tube is applied to a character generator circuit 20, the details of which are notdiscloscd herein but which may take scveral forms, one of which is described initheabove mentioned application Ser. No. 591.734, and shown therein 40 as the character generator 114 in FIGS. A14 and 17 where the cathode ray tube beam is moved in artister scan pnttcrn. Anothcritype of character generator is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.1 710,349, tiled Mar. 4, i968, where a'cathodc ray tubefbcam is moved from point to point to develop the character. it is understood that tite invention herein cnn be,. used with either of these twocharactergcncrating systems, at least.

The function of thechnracter generator is to provide the minor deflection voltages or character generating signais used to position the cathode ray tube beam and to supply the necessary signal to control the intensity of the beam and thereby form the image. This is in contrndistinction to the maior deflection voltages' or chnrncterpositioning signals which position an entire character on A controlrecord, such as a tape 21, passes through n tape reader 22 and vprovides electrical signals into n builer 23. It is recognized that other .f.similar control means such as the output from a computer may supply 00 control-signaistothe buffer 23. The .control record 21 I contains auch information as character-,selection, spacingbetween characters or between words, and leading instructions whenused in a typesettingzaystem. The buffer 23 functions to-acccpt information'from the con- 05 trol-tape at.its optimum output rate.and then transfer that information into the decoder 24;'at a rate which can be accepted by the remainder of .the circuit. 1t is to :be yunderstood that different control.l functions may take differing amounts of time, and eve'mthegeneration of Acertain characters takes longer than the generation of othercharacters. The output of the decoder 24 is np- Aplied-to a control circuit 25.which in turn generates the characterposltioniag signals for positioning the beam of the cathode ray tubeprior to the generation ofeach character. Selection among the characters within a band 6 is also determined by the output from .the decoder 24 tion vin part to identify the starting coordinates lof that through the control circuit. section with respect to the remainderofthe character,

While only one pickup 13 is shown,` it is understood character dais."v representing the infomation for the that a single pickup "13 is associated with each of the generation of that portion of the characten'fand an end bands contained on the character -member 11, and selec- 5 of section code. It .is understood that the'gstart of section of the pickupto be .activated vwill bemade by a '.tion and end of sectioncodes could be eliminated providing appropriate circ`uitry were vinclnde'clgto "sense the occurrence Iof the non-step data for each sections. It .been "found, however, Jxhatf more 'jr'eliable operay arelatively mallf. amount?- of :s'pacef is fused to'iprovi unique codes indicating both and ftheend of --tsaclrsectionl With the 4character member rotatingjin'thei direction 28 and 29 on the cathode ray tube 30-to positionand of-the arrow, it is therefore .apparent'tha't more rapid generate the characters. Thus, the charactervpositioning 15 vaccess tothe character-willhe obtaine`d1 if .each ofthe signals position .the .beam tolocate the. character-whilev f repetitions -ofIA :thscharacter weregdivided-into several the character generating signals actually develop.v the .sections .sincothelcharacterfcan ythen tbe generated from character on the facefot the cathode 'ray tube'. Whcn -any sequence of sectionsl which'form ae'complete charused in a phototypesetting operation, the image of thel acter'.-Thus ,.i `character selection'fwere nitide-while seccharacters on the cathode'ray tube would bej-recordedby 20 .tion'II of lrepetitionAhx'i/ere passing thebe'rkoptic pickup photographic lm or paper. l i assembly 13, charactcr-generationfcouldgbgin immedi- As shown in FIG. 1,' dillerent characters-inaphot ately upon lsensing the start o f-these'ction. code of typesetting systemnormally have different widths. The section III'fnl'srepetition A, andv charactcrgeneration letter a may be assigned a width value of Wa, while the` would becompleted .after the .digita'l. data'" section III letter 'i has the width :Wl and the letter m has" a width 25 inrepetition A, section I` of repetition;l and .section Wm. Each of these width values will depend=upon theiV -II in repetition B have been read by v th pickup means type and style of the font being generated but-normally :13.Therefor'ep`it-is'not necessarythatfth ectionsirom the 'characters 'illustrated in FIG. 1 will have'ditierent onlyfa-single repetition -be-used l.to fotr.,a"character widths. Accordingly, since the cathode ray tube beam. .but that any sequence of sections from anybf the repetiwill move to Va newpostion after a charactervhas been 30 .tions which form a complete character rn' .be used. generated, thedistance through -which it moves will be `In one -modication of this invention, non-chardetermined by the width of the generated character.' In acter .information being .derived from aection -is anatho system described: in U.S. patent application .'Ser.No.. lyzed, and vif this non-characterv infomation contains 591,734, .the width of 'a character is indicated by the numerrors, 'thatsection may 'be ignored andacorresponding ber of horizontal steps required to generate the character 435 section in a. different repetition used -to` complete the when scanning the beam in a raster manner. These horigeneration of the character. .y zontal steps were multiplied by the point `size of the'eharl Referring vnow to FIG. 4, the letter shown being acter and after thelcharacter generation was completed, developed by scanning the beam 'witha cathode ray ltube the horizontal character positioning voltage .was-rnodified l .in a .raster-scan sequence and =by gatingqt'the beam on to move the beam "in position .forthe generation of the 40am-.fthe places indicatedfby the black dotsffsuch as done nextcharacter. In the vembodiment-shown in U.S." patent in 'the .character generator described' in lthe above application'Ser. No. 710,349, tiled Mai". 4,"1968,"a width l 'mentioned' U.S. lpatent' application Se o. 591,734. code is associatedwith-each discretelzcharacter Thecharacteri'has Abeen divided intothroelsect-ions, inwhich, when multiplied with the pointsizelof -the chardicated-by-' the numerals" Ldl and v`IILjvviththe coordiacter, will be used to modify thehorizontalharacter posi- 45 nateslof .the 'stan offseetioa I falling onjm's base line Y, tioning signal to reposition the starting positionof the and-with the 'horizontalfposition indicatedfat X1. The beam for the nextl character. t startng'coordinates forsections II andfllralso-are on Rfffin now t0"FIG" 24'11": Characf m0111013! mem- `the=base` linefY and areidentified. at X, and at 'X,. It is ber l1 shown includes a pair -of clock tracksS and, understood that 1the scanning lines shown"-tln FIG. 4 exand several characterttrackslt). In FIG. 3, a portion 0f 50 tend lbeyond that character and forLthis`reason -breaks the character member 11 including two clock tracksland vin thescanning lines has been indicatedlbinl the figure. a single character-track is shown in detail.- The digital The scanning lines must necessarily include the 'charinformation for generating a character may be repeated actetsfwhich extend below the base .linefsuch as the withina single discrete 'character track tt-several vtimes ,-lmersjea] md y, and .also those which "extend above the in order tcrprovidey morerapid'access to fthe characterl uppermost limits o f therletter o shown 4'auch as ythe letdata since,'in theernbodiment shown, only one pickup teds.dz"and.b.l"I`hus, ,infthe generatie fthe' letter a head is used for each ofthezbandsoudh Qhalaclgl'fshown in FIG. 4,:iit isnecessaryjto 'knw`f'o`nly the X member. coordinates for each -of the lsections fbemg generated In FIG. 2. 'flllv NPHIION Df-.mhamcfa indi" Isince the' Y coordinatefcan be the same fo all characters cated at A, B,;C,a nd D. To '.increase'; further the :.accesso :infn form: t ability ottheehmcter informativa mh 0f Il llpsti- The character a shown .in 1216.5 tions is dlvldedrlnteirluralltv-Ofi-Milou..lndlcatsdiby three :sections indicated bythe numsralsir; n and m. the numlflal 1, H"lld m- Wlllkiolll? im @ations Thischaraeter` is generated by movin'g'fpth'eycathode ray are Shown Within di 0f hl-NPd-iimmht.- i. ndriwod -tube beam from point to 'point-as directedfb the di ital that the charactrf'fillfomtlolimaybfdvdmimo3555 'information containe'dwvithin the characte'i'ta g -r -v v ck40and any numberot sections, end in oneembodimentotth t b-gm the beam on at thelace-if. lfd. t. d b h nvention-thecliaA orrnatlongwasactuallyj'divided b'k'ofin-IG`-S 6 d .3, l??? f y t e `Thaf".initiatief;Ifolf-,sectionsitfin i @tubi-i h f is. a mi mpi PO." whichinseam lt vtasaylnijdpjendjentasfsmqunt ...;1.9tk.9. Pftfhwl infie-2 i Pimm-Ehe of lnfrx'iiat'ionfreduiredftogeheratethefgcharacter,endian-Pih- .mb-th odiimbwbm in seneratmg amount-of non-character4 informationlnQeach section; mi Fhmitl'fI-Wlth lhll Wf'f0f=fht1r a ."swerftlon. nach et the ueftsnsfwnhin;fsgstngts'feiseanon of s -'l1011.tl1 X'fwd'l( csordlnatesfqf the 'section relative to character contains certain .functionally similar data,such `th "mailling lwlfflllfglh Character ltlillpplkd- Thus, as a uniquey code-indicating the *start ofthe-section," a .the starting coordinates I for section I vaus 'indicated at group'of codes.labeled#non-characterdataf'"whichfunc-f'zs XiQ--Yh'while the starting coordinatesl fo section II are Y 7 f indicated at X3, Y andthe starting coordinates for section III are indicated at XX Y. I f i Referring now to FIG. 7 which illustrates the generation of the character shownv in'FIG. 4 by the raster scan method, it will be seen that if, at the time the'character was selected, the first section to appear before the pickup device were section III, that section would-begenerated on the cathode ray tube, as shown by thev solidblackdots in FIG. 7a.iiOf courseythe position ofthe cathode ray tube beamfrom-itsnormal restfpositioul must'be modifv cd so'. .that section'III will' be generated in its .proper positionwithrespectto thevremainder yof the character?.` Therefore-"the .beam is movedfromgits-.initial startingfgj position tothe-position X; .wherecharacter generation.- is L begun. Thereafterfthe-dataf'in'.section:.L`will be sensed by the pickupdevice and that section-"will be generated as shown bythe solidfdots in.,FIG. '7b. while section III,

previously pfornied, is tshownf as dashed lines."`After section I hastbeen generated, lthe information'in section II will then be .sensedy bylsthe'pickup Ameauss'liand that portion of the character generated, as shown in the solid dots in FIG.` 7c. Herefagain, those sections which have been previously formed areshown as dashed lines.

Thecharacter shown in FIG.' 5, formed by moving the cathode ray tube beam from point to point, may-also be divided into a plurality of sections. Thus, section III vmay be generated first; starting at position X3. Ya, as` shown in FIG. 8a, followed bythe generation ofsection -Iat X1, Y1, shown as the solid dots in. FIG. 8b, 4and then the generation of section II at XF Y2, shown as the .solid dots in FIG. 8c.

It is apparent that more rapid access to Ithe character information within a. character track may thus-be accomplished by dividing the characterinto several sections and reproducing the characterj'in any sequence of ysections required to form a complete character.v It is'necessary therefore for'the character-memory member to move through onlyI a relatively'small angular distance in order to arrives` ata point where the character generation. can

begin, thus increasing the rate at whichcharacterscan` be generated. While thev character information is describedasbeing recordedin aysingle discrete-f track inserial'form, it is understood that this information may be recorded vequally' as well-in parallel form in aplurality of tracks; vusually adjacent each other. As long as the parallel tracks are functionally related to each other to provide the neces-l sary information'to represent. a single `characten'they may be groupedztogether and are regarded asa 'single discretetrack in this appliaction.:l

The basieconcept of repeating invariant datafs'uch as the digitalinformation'representinglalphanumeric characters,.and'dividing that digital information into ahumber.l of .sections' .to improve `.the accessibility to the data of invariant'datagluchja's mathematical ftable s',g including buenos-limited.to logarithmicgfandtrigonometricftables.

foi-[use in "special .Spurposejkomputers. Accordingly, the

pressing the value for. the sine of i379., would'be divided into anumber. off-sectionsfforlrapid;access,1and ,ea'ch section .wouldf .be.!preceded with a'. code't indicating thebeginning' of. that .section andits .'relationshipi to f the.

remainder'of the' .section's lforming that'chara'cten.' I

While-.thejfzform .g of apparatus z herein described. constitutes la' 'preferred jembodiinentjf the;l invention.'4 it vis to be understood vthat.thefinv'ention is-not limited to this precise form of appara'us,iandthatchanges may bemade 'l .fzs vj therein without departin'g-fromfthe scopeloftheinvention.

50 storage member, comprising:

8 'What is claimed is:

l. An optical character storage member for use in an apparatus wherein a beam of energy is moved to form a character, said storage member includingagil Y.

an optically transparent member having'digital informa` s y tion permanently stored thereon'as l'optical marks for the subsequent generation of characters; 'at least onejdiscrete track onsaid-storage member for `each character; 10' optical'marks representing character a a-forthe generation ofafsingle character digitaliyfstored in each track in a repeated-sequence for thei'rapid recovery :.l'ofrthe digitalinformaton representing that char- 4said optical marks representing cha data stored in each repetition in said discrete track being divided y-into ,a plurality of -sectionsfor th urther rapid `.-'recciveryof the digital informationpresenting the characters; andother joptical y' marks .representing no character data associated with the beginning ofeachjbf-said sections I indicating the coordinates of the relative position of that section with respect tothexremainder of the y character for positioning the beam prior to the gen- 25- eration of that section thus permitting' the creation of a characterfrom any sequence of sections making upa complete character.

2. .'I`he character storage member de ned in claim 1 -whereinl said .optical .marks representing`5:.non-character i information are included at the beginning-'bf each of s'aid pluralityaof sectionsfinfth'evsame discretetrack as the opticalf marks representing character.` information. 3. .The character storagemembendefinedin claim 1 `wherein said optial marks representing'fn'oncharacter information include a unique combinatie ,of marks indicating the beginning of each section. s \l :444; The character storage memberffdened in claim 3 wherein saidoptical marks representinginorcharacter information further include a unique combination of marks indicating the'end of each section. u 1.', 5..The character storage member ned in claim 1 wherein said optical marks representingnon-character information further include optical n rarksffg identifying the -number-of sections required to generate ai complete char- 45 acter.y thus permitting the number offseetions'into which the characters are divided `toviiffer ineach'discrete track.

6. .The character storage member denedin claim 1 furtherincluding means for converting into electrical signals digital information optically-:encodedfon` aid character light means directing lightvontosai member to -illuminate a.. pluralit of: said discrete 1.a photoelectric transducer for each dis :means receiving the'-'image' =from s'aidliplurality of disrete ,t 'raeks and -directing each f img'eto l its correpending photoelectric transducerta'r'i .-.fv-'meanscausin'g relative movement betweensaid optical storag'efmemberjand saidmeans' "for receiving the "I image whereby' electrical signals are-produced by "said'photoelectric transducers 4in `response to the information carried by said opticall encoded mem- "ber,

'/.fA character storage memberfo in an appa- 6.5 .'ratusjwhereiu'a beam of energy is moved to form a f character,"said storage member includingz' means for 'storingdigital informati hereon for the .',subs equent generationof characters y'moving said in apathdetermined by said igital informaf tien: l ya discretetrackon said storage mean foreach charl acterto be generated; t

digital character information storedieach track being .divided into' a-plurality of. sections` or rapid access to the `digital information representing that character; and

digital information on said storage means representing noncharacter data associated with each of said sections for indicating the coordinates ofthe relative position ofthat section with respect to the remainder of the characterl to position the beam prior to the generation of that section thus permitting the generation of a character fromany sequence of sections making up a complete character.

8.-"I`he vcharactcrstorage member.dened infclai'rn 7 wherein s'aiddigital character information stored in each of saddiscrete tracks including the number ofsections making 'upa complete character is repeated about sa'idgtrack for vrapid'accessfto the digital infomation representing that character.

' 9. The character storage member defined inullclaim 7 t wherein said storage'means is optically transparentand wherein said digital informationis placed onsaidstorage member in the form of optical marks;

10. The character storage'member defined in claim 9 wherein said optical marks are alternate light transmitting and light opaque areas.

11. 'Ihe character storage member defined in claim 7 wherein said storage means is a magnetic member upon which may be recorded digital magnetic signals representing the digital character information and the digital non-character information.

12. An opeical character storage member for use in an apparatus when rapid access is required to infvariant digital information, said storage member including:

an optically transparent member having invariant digital information permanently stored thereon as optical marks; O

a discrete track on saidstorage member for each character;

optical marks representing character information stored in each track with the character in that track being divided into a plurality of sectionsproviding for rapid access to the digitalzinformation representing that character; andother` opti I ljmarks iA representing :non-'character infor- 1 lassoicated'with 'eachi of 'said lsections for, indicatinggthe beginning -otthat section and'itsre--j`` f mation lationship to lthefremain'der'of the` sections forming `that character thus permitting rapid access to thecharacter information from any sequence of sections making up a complete character.

13. A character storage member for use in an apparatus when rapid access is required to invariant digital information, said storage member including:

a member having invariant digital information stored thereon;

a discrete track on said storage member for each character;`

` the; digital information 'tion..

' 18. The character storage memberf,

10 digital information representing character information stored in each track with the character in that track being divided into a plurality of sections providing for rapid access to the digital information representing that character; and -f other digital information representing non-character information associated with each of 'said sections indicating the beginning of that section and its relationship to the remainder of the` sections forming that character thus permitting rapidy access to the character information from any sequence of sections vmaking up a complete character. l

14. The character storage member.'l ened in claim 13 wherein saiddigital informationrepresenting noncharacter information is in clnded at thebeginning of each of said plurality o'fsec'tions in the same'discrete track as representing'c acter informa- 15. lThe l character storage member dened in claim 13 4wherein saidrdigital information representing noncharacter information include a unique'fdigital code indicating the beginning of each section.

16. The character storage member dev wherein said digital information representing non-character information further include a unique digital code indicating the end of each section.

-17. The character storage member: ened in claim 13 wherein said digital information representing noncharacter information further include means identifying the number of sections required to generate a complete character thus permittingithe number-,fof sections into which the characters are divided to diff in each discrete track.

ened in claim 13 wherein said storage means is optically'transparent and wherein said digital information is placedjon said storage member in the form of optical marks.

19. The character storage member eiined in claim 13 wherein'said storage means is a'ni'agnetic member upon which may be recorded digitallinagnetic signals representing the digital Icharacter information and the idigital-non-characterinformation. g.

References' Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,056,955 io/issz Dirks 34e-324 3,400,381 9/1968 Appleton 340-324 3,255,444 7/ 1966 Houghton S40-324.1

RALPH G. NrLsoN, Primary Examini C. M. LBEDOM, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R.

23S-61.12; E340-324.1; Z50-233 

